Muscle Spasms?? Help me please.

[Roxjanine]

I woke up this morning and noticed that all my muscles on one side of my back are pushed over all to one side. It is as if my muscles "clumping" up towards my fusion. It hurts like h*ll especially when it starts twitching around my ribs. Unfortunately, Flexerel (sp) makes my muscles tighter, so I don't have anything to take for whatever this is. My back looks weird, its very uncomfortable. Anyone have any suggestions?

[scooter950]

Valium?

Do you have valium? I still use Valium to relax the muscle spasms, maybe your doctor can give you a prescription? It's horrible to get ill on a holiday weekend, ugh all the offices are closed! try a HOT hot shower and gentle stretching, I hope you find relief soon- Jamie in TX

[hasteffen]

ouch

what about skelaxin? Can you get a script for that? massage? I am so sorry you are in so much pain. Try a warm bath? what about doing the child pose (yoga)? Keep us updated.
Best,
Heidi

[walkingmom]

Perhaps baclofen instead of flexeril could help. Plus it won't put you asleep like some other muscle relaxants. Hot showers are also very helpful. Be careful about doing stretches though because you are only three weeks post-op. You probably should contact your surgeon's office for other suggestions and they can also reinforce as to what you shouldn't do. Hope you get some relief soon.
Donna

[mabeckoff]

Sorry you are really that way
Roboxin works very well for me and it does not put me to sleep

[titaniumed]

Rox

Take a hot bath or hot soak. I took many soaks at 106 degrees which is HOT. This will help.

Try not to bend your spine and be careful getting in and out. Move slow. Drink plenty of water if you do this. A deep and wide tub is best.

Right after surgery it feels so strange and so stiff. I also wondered about my muscle imbalances, it didn’t seem right, but they eventually built up and evened out some.

Hang in there,your going through the hardest part.
Ed

[debbei]

Another muscle relaxant that I have taken is Soma. It's worked for me, but everone is different.

Hot showers are great too. I don't have the type of tub to soak in like Ed mentions, and my regular tub just doesn't cut it.

[Roxjanine]

I started PT this week which has helped. I'm doing aqua therapy 3 times per week. After Pt, I'm exhausted and get feverish. I am wondering if I am starting pt too soon? I'm 3 weeks post op today.

[golfnut]

I think every surgeon is different, but I wasn't allowed to do anything but walk until I was 3 months post op. At that point, I was given a few exercises from Dr. Lenke's physical therapist to do at home. I would make sure the physical therapist is experienced with spinal fusions similar to yours. I think 3 weeks sounds really early to be doing physical therapy, but that's just based on my experience.

[Doodles]

My experience was very similar to Karen since I also had Dr. Lenke. I think it was maybe 3 months when I was allowed to do aqua pt. I think they want to make sure the incision is totally healed before entering the water. It sounds like your body is telling you this is too much too soon. Janet

[mabeckoff]

I also agree that it sounds like you are doing too much too soon. I would get in touch with your surgeon

[JenniferG]

Unlike most here, I wasn't given PT at all. When I asked about it, my surgeon said, "Just keep walking." So I did. At three weeks, I was still taking things very slowly.

[Roxjanine]

worried

I'm suppose to go back to Pt tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to ask if I can only do walking instead of the other exercises since I'm sore now. I'm paranoid now that the pt will damage my fusion. Is it possible that I could harm my fusion? The water exercises seem very minor (walking, heel toe lifts, squats.etc) My surgeon seemed to think I was ready to start pt when he saw me at my 2 week post op appt. He even said instead of giving me another muscle relaxer, the pt would be a better course of action. Maybe because of my age he felt it was okay??

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

Two weeks is really early, but they would have to be REALLY aggressive to do any damage to your implants. I think it's a good idea, however, to listen to your body. Since you're having muscle spasms that might have been set off by the PT, I think it's reasonable to ask them to back off of at least some of the exercises. If you've got a good PT, they'll probably be able to figure out what set off the spasms.

Regards,
Linda

[golfnut]

I was allowed to walk in the pool forward, backward, sideways, moving my arms early in my recovery. The water temperature at he Y is 87 degrees, so it felt great. At 6 months, I started water aerobics with a few restrictions.